Chapter 10: Unexpected Appetizers

“It seems everyone else hasn’t arrived yet.”

After slipping into their slippers, Dohwa looked around the house, but the lack of any presence suggested he was the first to arrive.

He placed the cake, which he had carefully carried all the way, into the refrigerator. Then, after washing his hands in the first-floor bathroom, he came into the kitchen.

“I’ve taken everything out for now.”

“……Thank you. Go wash your hands.”

“I already did.”

‘When did he wash them?’

Dohwa looked at Kang Hae-il with a bewildered expression, but he was scanning the island counter with hawk-like precision.

The bread and desserts, still nestled in their shopping bags, were meticulously arranged, as if by someone with an obsessive compulsion.

“……May I organize these?”

“Yes, I laid them out for display, but some are not in good condition.”

A corner of Dohwa’s mouth twitched, finding Kang Hae-il somewhat amusing as he seriously inspected the desserts.

Dohwa first separated items that needed refrigeration from those for room temperature. As he opened the refrigerator door and placed them inside one by one, Kang Hae-il helped by handing them over.

Then, when Dohwa moved the remaining items to one side, Kang Hae-il brought everything he hadn’t managed to carry earlier and placed them exactly where Dohwa had put them.

Once the tasks were done, a noticeable silence settled, leaving only the two of them in the kitchen.

“Here, water.”

“Thank you. Aren’t you having any, Hae-il?”

“I’m fine.”

Kang Hae-il abruptly poured a glass of water, handed it to Dohwa, and then simply stood still himself.

‘……How peculiar.’

Despite his seemingly cold demeanor, he offered unexpected kindness and displayed unwavering resolve in small matters. Such moments revealed more about Kang Hae-il’s true nature.

Dohwa was thirsty, after all.

Fiddling with the cup, he took a sip, and as his thirst was quenched, he felt a refreshing clarity.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m fine. Are you hungry?”

“I’m fine too.”

His legs aching, Dohwa sat in a chair and looked directly at Kang Hae-il, having to crane his neck.

This time, without averting his gaze first, Dohwa remained still, and their eye contact lasted for a surprisingly long time.

He had initially found it awkward, but now, not overthinking it, it felt surprisingly alright.

Dohwa tended to be shy around strangers, but here, a new environment combined with unusual personalities made it even harder to approach people.

Yet, among them, Kang Hae-il, who exuded an unapproachable aura, had, ironically, been the one he’d conversed with the most.

“Are you good at cooking?”

“No, I don’t know how.”

“……That’s understandable.”

Dohwa wore a dumbfounded expression as he watched Kang Hae-il firmly declare once again that he couldn’t cook.

‘It’s almost nine o’clock now.’

With not a single team having arrived yet, he wondered if they would even be able to eat today. Rummaging through the kitchen to check for necessary pots and seasonings, a sound echoed from the entrance. Dohwa’s head snapped around immediately.

“I think someone’s here?”

“Let’s go see.”

As they hurriedly scampered out of the kitchen into the dining room, they encountered two people coming their way.

“Ta-da! We bought so much alcohol!”

“……Wow.”

Woo Sori, with slightly flushed cheeks, grinned broadly as he slightly lifted the armful of bags he was carrying.

‘They look incredibly heavy.’

Jae-hyun, standing next to him, was carrying a significantly larger load of shopping bags and boxes. Fearing Woo Sori might accidentally drop and break the alcohol, Dohwa took a few items from his grasp.

“I saw a wine cabinet in the kitchen earlier. I think we can put them there.”

Feeling the substantial weight, Dohwa walked carefully, just as he had with the cake, when suddenly—

“Give them here.”

In the blink of an eye, without a moment to resist, Kang Hae-il took them away.

For a moment, Dohwa looked at his lightened hands, feeling as bewildered as a raccoon whose cotton candy had just dissolved. Yet, Kang Hae-il, having already relieved Jae-hyun and Dohwa of their burdens, calmly walked into the kitchen.

Ultimately, when the four of them entered the kitchen, Dohwa was the only one empty-handed, carrying nothing.

Even when he tried to help, Woo Sori and Jae-hyun worked together seamlessly.

After filling the wine cabinet and placing the other alcoholic beverages in the refrigerator,

“One bottle left.”

Perhaps because it wasn’t particularly large, even after filling the wine cabinet, one bottle remained, unable to fit.

“Four of us can finish one bottle quickly. Should we have a drink first?”

“That’s a good idea.”

As Woo Sori said playfully, holding the wine bottle, Jae-hyun, echoing his sentiment, glanced their way. His gaze silently asked, ‘What about you two?’

The time indicated 9:30, but one team had still not arrived.

And there was no telling when they would.

“……Then, let’s have a light snack with some bread, like an appetizer.”

“Okay, I’ll wash the glasses!”

Dohwa, unable to bring himself to refuse Woo Sori, whose eyes sparkled with excitement, simply nodded.

He couldn’t see, but Kang Hae-il must have agreed, as Woo Sori hurriedly retrieved four wine glasses from the cupboard.

“Careful.”

Kang Hae-il, standing nearby, caught them just as they were about to fall, preventing them from breaking.

Dohwa, who had slipped away unnoticed amidst their actions, carefully opened the refrigerator and retrieved the mini cream puffs he had placed there earlier.

‘I’m definitely not drinking wine just because I want to eat these.’

Jae-hyun spotted Dohwa, who was making a blissful expression while holding a handful of cream puffs.

“Dohwa, are you going to eat those?”

“……There aren’t many, so I was going to share them now.”

Though it sounded like an excuse, he was being sincere.

“I’m hungry, so can I eat this?”

“Yes, you can.”

Dohwa nodded to Jae-hyun, who was pointing at a bag of croissants.

The table was set quickly. Once everyone was seated, Woo Sori used the opener he was holding to uncork the white wine.

As he poured a glass for each person, soon, everyone clinked their glasses together.

“Nice to meet you all!”

“It’s a pleasure.”

“Please take care of me from now on.”

The moment he took a sip, the distinct presence of the liquid flowed from his mouth down his throat. He realized he hadn’t eaten anything all day.

His disrupted sleep schedule wasn’t the only thing that had gone awry with his day and night reversal.

Hurriedly, he popped a cream puff into his mouth. Its soft texture and sweet flavor, a stark contrast to the wine, spread delightfully.

“Dohwa, you seem to be in a better mood?”

“The puff just melts in my mouth.”

“Really? Then I have to try one too!”

Apparently, it was evident on his face. The gazes of those seated with him converged on Dohwa, and each of them picked up a cream puff.

“How was the dessert shop for you two?”

“The variety was so wide, we didn’t know what everyone would like, so we bought a bit of everything.”

“I love bread.”

Woo Sori said, taking a large bite out of a croissant.

As he had mentioned earlier, Woo Sori truly seemed to love wine, as he kept sipping from his glass, never letting go.

“It’s been a while since I went to a proper liquor store, and there were so many things I wanted to buy. Since there are so many of us, we’ll probably drink it all quickly anyway. I even thought about paying myself if we ran short, but it worked out.”

“……How much was it?”

Dohwa, too, had worried about hitting the spending limit once it exceeded 100,000 won.

‘Everyone worries about the same things, don’t they?’

However, Woo Sori’s next words, delivered without a care, shattered his poker face.

“Hmm, I left the receipt in the car…… but it was probably over 1,000,000 won?”

There was a reason for so much alcohol.

Dohwa’s previous worries seemed utterly trivial. With just one team, the spending had already exceeded 1,000,000 won, and the scale of spending had shifted dramatically.

‘Then how much did the main dish shopping team spend?’

Suddenly, he recalled the publisher’s representative who had mentioned that the production budget for this dating show was unprecedented.

“We started speaking informally while choosing wine, but you two haven’t yet, right?”

“Ah, no.”

“Dohwa, I think you’re the same age as Chaeyeon-woo.”

“That’s right.”

“You two youngest ones will get along well. You won’t leave me out later, will you?”

“Absolutely not.”

Dohwa shook his head and replied firmly, making Woo Sori giggle, saying he was just joking.

From his first impression, Chaeyeon-woo had seemed difficult to get close to, but in a different way than Kang Hae-il. Perhaps it was because they were both omegas, but the feeling was even stronger.

‘By the way, they looked close. So they’ve already started speaking informally.’

He hadn’t known.

Dohwa stole a glance at Kang Hae-il, who was seated beside him. He was calmly looking towards Woo Sori when their eyes met.

As Dohwa quickly averted his gaze, it was only for a fleeting moment.

“Hae-il and Won-ho are the same age on the Alpha side too, aren’t they?”

“I wonder if the production team planned this. Can I drink what’s left of this?”

“By all means.”

On the Alpha side, only Jae-hyun was two years older.

As Woo Sori pointed at the wine bottle, Jae-hyun naturally poured the remaining wine into his glass.

Witnessing one side of the group interacting so casually with each other, Dohwa felt a strange sense of awkwardness.

He emptied the remaining wine in his glass in one gulp and popped the last cream puff into his mouth. Perhaps it wasn’t to their taste, as the other two had only eaten croissants after having one each earlier.

‘Thanks to them, I get to eat as much as I want. How nice.’

Whenever Kang Hae-il’s large hand reached for a cream puff beside him, his attention, even mid-conversation, would invariably drift that way.

Just as they were about to clear away what they had been eating,

“I think they’re here?”

“Looks like they’ve arrived.”

As the sound of the front door opening echoed, everyone paused their conversations, turned their heads, and stood up.

On the table, alongside the empty wine glasses, clear evidence of their preemptive feast remained.

“No way, you ate without us?!”

“Wow.”

Two people, their arms laden with bags much like Woo Sori and Jae-hyun earlier, stopped at the dining room entrance.

Chaeyeon-woo’s eyes were wide with surprise, while Ma Won-ho whistled, surveying the scene.

Dohwa felt a pang of guilt, as if they had been caught secretly eating.

“We barely touched it, just a taste. You must be hungry, right?”

“We’ll clean up, so go wash your hands.”

Seeing the two ‘accomplices’ handle the situation so smoothly, Dohwa brazenly put on a straight face.

After all, the sweet taste of the cream puffs was something he couldn’t give up, even if he went back in time.